China Literature's net loss in 2025 more than doubled, again dragged down by New丽 Media. What does CEO Hou Xiaonan think?

Operator Finance Network Zhao Xinyu/Written

Recently, the China Literature Group released its performance report for 2025, attracting widespread attention. Although the company’s revenue from emerging businesses such as AI comics and IP derivatives has seen considerable growth, it is important to note that the company is still in a loss-making state, which has further expanded compared to the previous year.

Specifically, in 2025, China Literature achieved an operating income of 7.366 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 9.3%; the net loss amounted to 776 million yuan, a staggering 270.9% increase from the net loss of 209 million yuan in the same period last year; the non-International Financial Reporting Standards (Non-IFRS) net profit was 858 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 24.8%.

However, the report also pointed out the reasons for the losses. As of the end of 2025, other net losses were mainly due to a goodwill impairment loss related to New Classics Media amounting to 1.8 billion yuan, partially offset by gains from several investment companies.

This is not the first time that China Literature Group has been dragged down by its film and television subsidiary, New Classics Media. It is understood that China Literature Group acquired New Classics Media in 2018 for a staggering 15.5 billion yuan. During the acquisition, New Classics Media made performance commitments, promising net profits of no less than 500 million yuan, 700 million yuan, and 900 million yuan for the three years from 2018 to 2020, but the actual net profits for these three years were 67.9 million yuan, 549 million yuan, and 429 million yuan, all of which fell short of the promised targets.

As a result, in 2020, China Literature Group recorded a goodwill impairment of over 4 billion yuan, which caused the group to shift from profit to loss that year, resulting in a net loss attributable to shareholders of 4.484 billion yuan. Five years have passed, and the impact of New Classics Media on the company seems far from over.

However, not all news in China Literature Group’s annual report is bad. The report shows that the overall revenue from online reading was 4.05 billion yuan, while copyright operations and other revenues reached 3.319 billion yuan. Notably, under the guidance of the “IP+AI” strategy, the revenue from AI comics surged explosively, surpassing the 100 million yuan mark; the GMV of IP derivatives more than doubled year-on-year, exceeding 1.1 billion yuan. This indicates a promising development momentum for its new businesses.

According to Tianyancha, the president of China Literature Group is Hou Xiaonan, and it is unknown how he views the aforementioned situation.

Liu Qing, head of the Internet Division at Operator Finance Network, stated that Hou Xiaonan officially took over as the company’s CEO in May 2023, and the acquisition of New Classics Media was a decision made before his tenure. Therefore, strictly speaking, the current losses caused by New Classics Media cannot be attributed to him.

(责任编辑：赵鑫雨)